Make sure you pay attention when investing in a company that has sales in the US AND across the globe. The headline and results should be read with an open mind.

This Q's results in most companies will show improvement. Would you classify 10% increase in revenue and profits as good? I would, but what if the following occurs (which is often):

Sales and profits of company "x" rose 10%. Company "x" sales in the US resulted in 50% of total sales in 2008 and 40% in 2009.

The above clearly states that company "x" sales and profits rose 10% because the currency (Euro dollar) has risen 20% in the past year. If half of the companies sales are in Euro then revenues and profits in US dollars show an increase of 10%. The reality is, no frigggen growth period.

Many companies do not want to share their revenue mix per geographic area. They basically say "x" amount of cents per share was attributed to the negative impact of the USD. Very rare do they give details.

Again, please include this variable when valuating global entities.